Programming Jazz Radio

from Jazz Notes 7/2 1995

While in college in the mid-1970s, I was a jazz music radio
programmer. I took inspiration not only from the music but also from
Harry Abraham's show "The Best of All Possible Worlds." Broadcast
over the clear channel WHAM 1180 AM from Rochester, NY, Abraham's show
signed on at midnight and ran till 5 a.m. He featured new releases and
spanned all conceivable styles. I'd listen to Harry driving home from
doing my show during the wee hours.

Impressed by Abraham's catholic taste and imaginative programming,
I wrote a fan letter, and he responded thoughtfully.

Not long after, WHAM went to a country music format and Harry's
show was ditched. I don't know what happened to Harry, but his letter
to me included some good ideas. Even though it was written in 1976 or
`77, his letter is still current:

There are three things that are most important to a jazz
broadcaster (all statements should be assumed to be preceded by the
qualifier: "In my opinion"). In order, they are the audience, the
artists, yourself.

1. The audience: Forget, for the moment, all the people who are
jazz buffs, for they will listen as long as you don't offend them. Who
else might be listening? What can you play to keep them tuned, get
them back next time, and recommend you to their friends? In other
words, Harry Abraham, doing a five-hour show on your station, would do
a program structured entirely differently with some different music,
because the audience would be different. WHAM is commercial radio and
even though I'm outside of the norm of their broadcasting, I wouldn't
be here if I offended their regular listeners. Without playing
commercial music, I manage to garner 50 per cent shares with 6 to 8
stations in the market on all night. (That does not take into account
people like yourself, out of the area.) Find another jazz program in
the last 25 years of broadcasting with that kind of support.

The closest that you will come to hearing commercial music is at
the very beginning and very end of the program. These are transition
periods, when that "other" audience is at its peak. The closest to
avant-garde will come between 2:30 and 4:00 a.m. because "they" are
minimal at those times. (I assume that you were kidding to include
Miles Davis as "avant-garde" - Miles has more in common with Donny
Osmond than he does with Anthony Braxton. Miles, at his best [which
means prior to his current rock- n-roll stage] was in front of the
mainstream, but never avant-garde.)

2. The artists. These cats don't get a lot of exposure so I feel
that one of the burdens of being a jazz broadcaster is to try to give
as much exposure as possible to the cats that need it the most. I can
put together five hours of good music without Herbie Mann, Dave
Brubeck, Chick Corea (recent guitar-rock stuff), Mahavishnu, Weather
Report, George Duke, Ponty, etc. Also without repeating an artist (as
leader) and still get enough variety in.

I lean toward the current releases because those are the ones that
most benefit the artist and are most representative of where he is at
this moment. If I know Miles is coming to town and I play Kind of Blue
,someone who is unfamiliar with his present garbage is going to be
pissed. Kind of Blue , is great music but it bears as much relevance
to 1975 as the tooth fairy. I play it because it is good music, but
aren't I better off playing Woody Shaw? Who needs the exposure more?

3. Yourself. Play something you dislike intensely and you'll lose
your entire audience. If they don't believe that you like it, they
can't justify listening to it, either. So it's up to you to broaden
your tastes as widely as possible. There is no artist whose records
I've received that haven't had some exposure on my program. But some
artists require a lot more digging to come up with something decent.
And sometimes, quite unexpectedly, you find your own tastes turning
around.